HEALTHY LITTLE VITTLES is a food blog created by certified health coach and published author, Gina Fontana, that focuses on gluten-free + vegan + plant-based recipes that anyone can make and everyone will enjoy! Here you'll find simple, flavorful meals, many made in 30 minutes or less. All eaters are welcome!
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A healthy plant-based meal made with gluten-free rice paper wrappers, japchae noodles, sesame kale, and a cabbage carrot mixture (coleslaw mix). Serve these Sesame Kale Spring Rolls for lunch or dinner with homemade sweet and sour sauce or soy sauce.
If you’re looking for a fabulously delicious plant-based recipe for the new year, this is it. It’s easy (I promise!), nourishing, gluten-free, and vegan as always. I’m always so annoyed with myself for not making spring rolls more often because they are so good, and I feel so good after I enjoy them too. They are fresh and light, and they incorporate so many healthy veggies… what’s not to love!
For these Sesame Kale Spring Rolls I decided to include Japchae noodles, also known as Korean glass noodles, made from sweet potato starch (so yummy!). They are naturally gluten-free, but I also love that they are grain-free as well. I know that these spring rolls aren’t a grain-free recipe with the use of the rice paper wrappers, but whenever I can cut down on grains, I do it 😉 You’ll have to cook and cool the noodles before rolling them in your spring rolls.
The kale I use in this recipe is dinosaur kale aka Lacinato kale, but you could also use the curly kale. You’re going to trim the stems and use only the leaves for this recipe to ensure they fold easily. To also help with that, we’re going to massage the kale to soften the leaves with sesame oil, lemon juice, and salt. I find kale much more enjoyable to eat this way as well.
The cabbage mixture is cooked slightly in a skillet with gluten-free soy sauce, a pinch of ginger, and a little bit of rice vinegar. To cut down on the chopping and shredding and to make this recipe easy, you can buy coleslaw mix. I like to add green onion to this mixture as well. If you prefer to eat everything raw, you can skip the cooking part- but I find these Sesame Kale Spring Rolls a little more palatable when the cabbage filling is softened slightly.
Rolling these spring rolls is fairly simple once you learn how to do it. The trickiest part is to not rip the rice paper wrapper, so be gentle. There should be directions on the back of your rice paper wrapper package, but if there’s not, you simply submerge each rice paper wrapper in water for about 15 seconds (one at a time), lay it out as flat as you can on a wet paper towel or tea towel, place the filling in the center, then fold the bottom of the wrapper over the filling, followed by the sides and then roll from the bottom up to the top. Be sure to not let them touch as they will be quite sticky and will tear easily.
I actually made these Sesame Kale Spring Rolls twice because I tried to fry and bake them to make them crispy… and they were delish that way too, however, if you’re going to do that you’ll need to double wrap them so the filling doesn’t all come out in the process. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve these spring rolls with gluten-free soy sauce or sweet and sour sauce (my personal pick)! Leave a comment below, and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram or Facebook if you make these Sesame Kale Spring Rolls!
A healthy plant-based meal made with gluten-free rice paper wrappers, japchae noodles, sesame kale, and a cabbage carrot mixture (coleslaw mix). Serve these Sesame Kale Spring Rolls for lunch or dinner with homemade sweet and sour sauce or soy sauce.
* to speed up the rolling process I like to soak a rice paper wrapper while I am rolling another spring roll so it's softened by the time it's rolled.
** if you'd like to try to bake these spring rolls, be sure to double wrap the rolls and spray generously with oil. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 25 minutes.
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HEALTHY LITTLE VITTLES is a food blog that focuses on gluten-free + vegan + plant-based recipes
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